Two Porcelain Doves
by starfreak23
Summary: The Medic has developed a bit of a negative reputation among his team. Sniper has been convinced that the man's reputation is true, that is until the man's Ex-Wife appears back in their life. Is the man a monster? Or has Mundy found a little bit of him worth exploring? Inspired by Demo's "Dominated! And I've been shaggin' yer wife!" Part 1 of "Trial and Error"


**A/N** : This wasn't supposed to be a ship fic, but can be read as such. If requested It might get an actual Bushmed sequel, so that's all up to you guys. German (google) translations are at the bottom (I'm so sorry, I don't speak German)

R.E.D. base was a very public place. Even though every merc had their own space, they tended to wander in and out of each other's spaces without true regard for doors. Sniper would wander into the engineer's workshop, Heavy and Demo ended up on Scout's running track, but it was extremely rare that anyone was allowed into Medic's office, or Spy's smoking room.

Spy's smoking room was more accessible than the office, and there was more desire to join the spy for a drink than to peek in on the mad doctor in his natural habitat. No one dared to knock on the door, when the Doctor disappeared into it, one chose to wait in the surgical theatre, rather than follow him to find whatever diagram or paperwork he was hunting for. The mercs tended to theorize about what could possibly be inside the mad doctor's private space.

"I'll bet anything," Jeremy Allen began, legs crossed on the couch with his hand gripping his BONK by the lip of the can "The walls are decorated in blood spatter and he has jars of stuff everywhere"

Monsieur Dubois rolled his eyes beneath his mask and took a drag from his cigarette. "I doubt the walls are papered with blood... It would not be practical, and the man is at least mildly practical."

Levi Mundy looked up from his chess game with Mikhail "Practical? The man replaced our hearts with that of _Papio meganubis_ if I remember _._ An endangered species of baboon lives on inside us, not to mention all the weird knicks and knacks he's put into us over the years."

Heavy looked up after making his move on the chessboard, causing Sniper to groan. "Mundy is right, Doctor is good man but… eccentric, да?"

"A good man?" The scout cried with almost sadistic glee at finally getting to do the dissecting (even if it was only his character, and not his skin) "The man rips us apart and puts us together like meaty puzzles for his own amusement and you're telling me he's a good man?"

"Doctor heals the sick and injured of his own volition, this counts for something-"

"His catchphrase is literally-" and here came the worst German accent the team had ever heard "Zhe healing is not as rewarding as Zhe hurting!"

Spy did his best to interrupt the fight before it began "Gentlemen, this is not the time nor the place-" But all it did was turn the Russian and the American on him instead.

"Uh, lads?" Sniper mumbled, his eyes trained on something down the hall rather than the actual argument "Perhaps we should settle down like mates-"

All three men angrily turned to shout at the Aussie this time, but instead was greeted by the sight of the German doctor studying the chess board with an innocent fascination, mapping out possibly moved with his eyes as his hands were clasped behind his back. He finally looked up at his three standing teammates, who hadn't realized they had all slowly stood to argue, and asked. "Vat are ve talking about?"

The three standing men sat again one by one with various replies of "Nothing," as they attempted to play off their argument.

When fully satisfied with their answers, Doctor Ludwig turned to the Sniper. "Herr Mundy, may I ask for your assistance? I am in need of a man vith your bone structure."

The collective gulp from Allen, Dubois, and Mundy made Mikhail grin with an almost "I told you so" kind of attitude.

"Er, yeah doc, 's no problem" Levi replied, and he stood from his chair.

"I need you in my office, come along." He responded casually and walked ahead into the empty corridor in front of them.

"You think he know-" Jeremy asked, but he was interrupted by Dubois.

"Nonsense, this is purely coincidental."

"Do not keep doctor vaiting." Misha almost sing song-ed, not unnerved by the German as the others were, but not ignorant to their weariness.

Levi gulped and followed him through the maze of hallways and into the surgical theatre, newly cleaned and shimmering, waiting for the latest coat of grime and blood. He was lead into the office and closed his eyes expecting the horrors he and the others had postulated while sitting in the living room. Walls splattered with dried blood, specimen jars full of things like very nice eyeballs and spleens, and-

The office was actually very nice. A decent sized space, looking to be about 12 by 10 feet. The walls seemed to be covered in the same kind of cloth that a cubical was covered in, except the coloring was a warm brown rather than the unfeeling grey of a cubical space. There was a ceiling fan with a leather strap that wrapped around a battery on the wall beside the door, which he used to turn it on and off, the room lit by two floor lamps with stained glass lampshades and a desk lamp whose green glass shade reflected light perfectly onto the rest of his letter writing desk. There was a table on the left side of the room with a white pet cage on it, a soft squeaking emanating from it.

Medic walked to the right side of the room, towards one of several tall bookcases, a comfy looking chair and a coffee table, moving both these pieces of furniture to reveal a thin gap between the book cases. "I have several mice I have been observing for experiments, but two have accidentally escaped and have made a nest in zhe back zhere between my bookcases…. I vould simply reach in and get zhem, put mein arm and hand are both far too thick to make it even half zhe distance" He made a resigned face that screamed 'shrug', as if he'd been trying to get them out but had not managed to. "I vould ask zhe scout, but- heh, zhough his arms are zhin, he would be too- poultry to reach in for zhem."

Levi actually cracked a smile "You mean chicken?"

"Yes, zhank you…. Even zhough I have studied zhe English language extensively, zhere are still certain colloquialisms zhat escape me." He grinned in good humor and the sight made sniper wince as a reflex.

The doctor seemed to notice and coughed "If you would be so kind, Herr Mundy?"

Levi blinked "Right, sorry." He rolled up his sleeve and reached in, "One of them's a fat little blighter-" He pulled one of them out and handed it to the German, who immediately rose a brow and began observing it. When sniper stood with the other one in his hands medic dove to the opening with a pin light to look for something.

He came off the floor with his signature grin "Mien Gott," he pointed to the mouse in sniper's hand "You scoundrel. Again?" He put both mice in their cage and turned to a confused sniper "She is pregnant again. Zhis will be her fourth litter this year and seeing as he is the only male among zhem, I have to assume he is responsible."

Ludwig seemed ecstatic at this news. Mundy, on the other hand, had no idea how to react. "Uh- er, congratulations?"

The doctor responded as if he was the father "Danke. Oh, before you go, could you grab me that book?" He thumbed behind him as he latched the cage "It is an anatomical study of mice in comparison to humans."

Levi turned to look for the book, grabbing it but noticing a small statue on the shelf as well. Two porcelain doves split apart, probably from the impact of a fall, not shattered completely but broken just enough not to be able to put back together. The female, with the majority of the base, stood on her own. She looked up at the sky as if looking to find a new life. The male, on the other hand, couldn't stand without an outside influence balance him, without the clay holding him up, he'd easily fall.

Reaching out to touch it, his hand was snached just before it could reach the delicate thing. The doctor had taken off his bright red gloves, and the intimacy of the grip was terrifying to the sniper. "Herr Mundy, I believe you have other zhings to attend to, yes?" His voice was dangerously low, and the ice blue of his eyes made it seem as though he couldn't possibly be real.

Levi swallowed thickly "Yeah, sorry about that. I'll be-" he snook his head. "Nevermind." He started to walk out when Medic called to him

"Mundy-... zhank you for your assistance."

"No problem." It was colder than he'd meant it to come out, but he left it how it was, and walked out as he'd been instructed.

Dr. Ludwig looked back to the statue he'd tried to mend so many times and murmured "Verdammt sollst du sein." But the bitterness in the tone was washed away by exhaustion. He sat back at his desk to work.

Alone.

Just like any other day.

When Soldier had revealed he and the B.L.U. demo had become pretty decent friends, It was safe to say the entire team had been on edge about the whole idea. But, after a few months of meeting (in a neutral location, a bar in Teufort) most of the members of each team were a bit calmer about it, enough so to even join them on occasion.

Sniper loved to join them, even if he wasn't technically with them, going into town gave him a chance to watch cricket and rugby if the season was right. Usually it was just them, but on occasion they were joined by one of the B.L.U. team, or even others from his own team.

What he didn't expect was to see his Medic in civilian clothing piling into the truck. He was in his usual button down, vest and tie, but his pants were less billowy, and he'd chosen different boots. He kept wringing his hands, which were gloveless, as if he was wishing they were there, almost seeming anxious being stolen away from his natural habitat. Or, it could very well just be the thought of being cannon fodder for one of Demo and Soldier's legendary bar fights.

In reality, the man simply felt like he had better things to do, but he had agreed because he knew that morale was an important part of the team's health, and Jane had been so excited to bring him to meet Tavish and the scot's 'new girlfriend' that he couldn't bring himself to say no. The fact that he had been a bit in need for companionship, no matter how juvenile, was no influence on his decision, of course.

They arrived at the bar twenty minutes late for the game because Jane had nearly killed a man over a parking space, even though the parking lot had been nearly empty. Levi parked his van further from the bread truck than technically necessary.

Sniper had a tendency to hang behind, not out of being antisocial, but so that they didn't rope him into watching whatever sport they ended up watching, so that he could watch what he'd come to watch and could observe the shenanigans from across the room. He watched Jane wrap an obnoxious arm around the taller man and lead him inside, introducing him to the B.L.U. Demoman, a man Sniper had met in the past and had actually come to like. Dr. Ludwig stuck out a hand to shake, but he smiled honestly when Tavish laughed and used the handshake to pull him in for a hug. Levi hadn't expected the doctor to warm up as thoroughly as he ended up doing, a grin spreading over his face (a natural one, not the terrifying one he claimed to only be able to manage.

His shoulders relaxed and his posture loosened as he sauntered up to the bar, leaning forwards onto his elbows to look at the bartender as Levi found his typical seat around the other side of the bar's L, able to see the game and watch the trio of men with minimal effort to switch. He watched as medic held up three fingers then catch him out of the corner of his eye and change the three to a four. "Drie Bier, bitte." The bartender nodded and grabbed four-pint glasses. Because, no matter what nation you're in, or language you speak, every bartender knows when you're asking for a beer.

When he received his pint, he smiled and rose his glass in a toast, Ludwig copied this move and they clinked glasses from a distance.

Ludwig was grabbed around the shoulders by an eager Jane Doe, who was both excitedly and intensely explaining what the players were doing on the television, even miming that he had a marker to draw lines and circles on the screen. The doctor glanced to Tavish, who grinned and shrugged, making him chuckle and pretend to be just as intensely listening to Doe, which made the soldier ecstatic.

As he had a habit of doing, Levi glanced around the room at the exits to assess any possible dangers and escape routes. His eyes were mapping the room when a woman walked into the bar that honestly took his breath away.

She looked like the three-dimensional version of the nurse from the Animaniacs, perfectly sculpted as the stereotypical thin waisted buxom blonde; the sniper couldn't resist but whisper "Hello, nurse," at the sight. Her hair was voluminous and pinned perfectly in victory curls, a white dress clinging to her features and a blue purse hanging from her right shoulder as she sauntered over to the bar, wrapping her arms around the Scotsman with a purr.

"Hallo, Liebling, I finished vith zee old voman, I have been relieved for zhe night und I am all yours." She grinned and slowly turned the man's head to kiss him slowly.

The sniper watched Tavish get kissed into oblivion, while the Medic seemed to stop breathing, his eyes slightly fogged over with terrible memories.

Levi's attention was now focussed on the man who seemed to be slowly gathering his brain and stuffing it back behind his eyes by blinking quickly and swallowing

"Oi, Solly!" Tavish cried and Jane whipped his head around, helmet off now for the sake of watching the game. The scot grabbed the woman by the ass and earned a mischievous giggle from her as he spoke. "Jane, this is Clara Ludwig-Schmitt. Clara, this is Jane Doe, a dear friend and arch nemesis."

"Arch nemesi- ah, he is from zhe R.E.D team, ja?"

"Thas right, dearie, we're all civil off tha clock."

"Miss Ludwig-Schmitt, it is an honor and a privilege." The soldier announced the same way he did everything, boldly and with the same intonations of emphasis.

He extended a hand for her to to shake, and she took it. "I prefer to go by Schmitt only, besides I vould like you to call me Clara. Any friend of meine Lieber may." She tweaked Demo's nose in a sickeningly sweet gesture of affection.

"Clara's the Administratior's new nurse."

"She vhill not accept a nurse for long term, only vhen she gets ill in any way. I am only called on occasion." She sat in her lover's lap and fiddled his this collar while she spoke.

Behind her, the doctor quietly ordered 3 shots of whisky and downed one immediately upon arrival.

"Tavish, Bärchen, buy me a martini vhile I go und powder meine nose."

Wish another dazzling kiss she was gone and Tavish glanced to the medic after following his order. "Ack, sorry doc, I fergot ta introduce ya"

"Nein, it is quite alright." The doctor downed the second shot with a grimace and raked a hand through his hair, presumably looking for some liquid courage.

"Nah, ye've got ta meet 'er. She's a beaut. Why she chose me is-"

"Obvious, because you are zhe most handsome man I have ever met, Bärchen." Came a giggle as the woman returned and saddled up beside her lover, taking her drink from the table as it arrived and began to sip.

Third shot downed.

"I am afraid vhe have not been introduced, I am-" Clara began turning towards the medic, but she stopped when the glaciers of two pairs of ice blue eyes slammed into one another, both forcing themselves to be calm. The doctor had calmed from panic. Clara's were more like a monsoon trapped behind glass.

"Ludwig."

"Clara."

"Schmitt." She corrected with finality, keeping him away from a personal level.

He calmly met this desire by correcting himself to even further from familiarity. "Krankenschwester."

Tavish was initially alarmed by the foreign term, but since his woman had not immediately began throwing a fit, he decided to let it slide with an awkward, "I take it you two know each other?"

Clara snarled a single puff of scoffing laughter. "Clara Ludwig-Schmitt."

A wave of understanding seemed to reach demo's good eye that sniper had not yet connected. "I'm sorry, love, I should have connected the dots-"

"Nein, Bärchen, you could not have known. How zhis man could end up vhith a vedding ring, I have no idea." She had begun the statement with a sweet tone of patronizing fondness for her current lover, but as the second sentence began, her sweet-as-cream tone curdled into sour glops of acid.

Doctor Ludwig turned his attention to the television he had not cared to glance at in half an hour, suddenly completely invested in the game before he spoke in a very passive-aggressive tone "And yet you vhere zhe one who vas vearing one."

She growled "I zhought you vere more of a man back zhen." She finished her martini at an alarming rate and signaled the bartender for a second one.

Tensions were rising faster than the sniper had anticipated his trigger finger twitching out of nerves at the thought of a possible altercation.

When Clara did not get the reaction she was hoping for out of the man who had found a focus on the football game, she turned her back on the man, switching her attention to Tavish with more of a sassy flourish than was completely necessary. "I knew if I ever saw him again it vhould be far too soon, zhe emotionless bastard."

"Now, darlin' don't be too harsh, let's go to a table- we can be far away from him-"

Levi breathed out a chuckle. Thank god for an alcoholic Scot who was determined to keep peace off the clock.

"My harshness has no effect on him. He has no emotion," She looked back at the man in question just in time to see his micro-expression of a wince at the comment. It was all the ammunition she needed. "Psychopaths tend to gravitate towards fields of power such as surgeons. He never vanted his father's family practice for zhat reason. He vanted to be Doctor Frankenstein-"

"Zhat is harsh even for you, Clara." Ludwig whispered thickly, aggrieved, his eyes now on the bottles across the bar rather than on the television.

"Clara, darlin' let's go-" Tavish pulled at her arm, but she snatched it away with fire in her eyes.

"Harsh is leading me on for two years vhile never feeling anything for me."

The bar was silent besides soft cheering of the football game and Jane's soft muttering of strategy and insults beneath it.

Clara continued after a few moments of tension so thick it could be sliced into chunks. "I loved you, Wolfgang. I gave you my youth und you threw it away."

"You married exactly vhat I advertized. I did not change, you only realized I vould not." His jaw was tight, words carefully chosen, breathing far more controlled than normal.

"I should have realized that vhen I met your father und you refused to talk to him. Like a petulant child-" Sniper watched the man's right-hand ball up into a fist and his body tensed, ready to fly across the room to end the fight before it began. "Speaking of whom, perhaps you should answer his letters, his new vife has had children since he invited you to zhe vedding."

That sentence was the straw that broke the camel's back. He slammed his fist on the table, standing so harshly the barstool behind him fell over, but he never did more than lower his voice and growl "Ich schlage vor, du hältst deine Zunge, Frau, du bist auf Geduld angewiesen, die ich nicht mehr habe."

Clara stood her ground, obviously knowing the man would never raise a hand to her.

He swallowed and took a breath, finally tearing his eyes off her's, doing so in a way that made sniper think of ripping velcro apart, sound and all. "Herr DeGroot, as I find you a respectable man, I vill give you some free advice in regard to Clara Schmitt." He spat the words with more precision than sniper could take a shot, a surgeon's exactitude. "Once a cheat, always a cheat."

Clara's eyes widened, flaring like a match doused in gasoline, grabbing Tavish's drink and flinging it to cover her ex-husband from his face to his knees.

Soaked in beer and quite finished with the banter, Wolfgang Ludwig softly excused himself with a voice choked with anger and actually bowed to Clara with a sarcastic politeness "Ever zhe pleasure, Fraulein. Ever zhe privilege." He stood and clicked his heels like the soldier he'd become and made his way outside of the door.

Jane had been stunned by the sudden sign of anger from the three others with him, but the moment there was a spark of color he looked at the scream "YEAH! TOUCHDOWN! TAKE THAT YOU COMMIES!"

It was obvious that Tavish had been shocked by his new girlfriend's past and her sudden outburst, he looked up at her with his eye as wide as a saucer. She seemed to detect the attention and the mental fence he seemed to be teetering and she sniffed as if he was going to cry. Seeing her hurt rushed Tavish's decision and he wrapped his arms around her "Aye, no lass, it's alright. He's not comin' back ta hurt ya, I promise on ma good eye."

Mundy didn't like her. He'd heard the entire episode and had smelled something fishy the moment her mood had turned against the doctor. It was obvious that he had been willing to be civil with her, his eyes when he had heard her voice looked as if though he was in the midst of a panic attack. She was able to affect him in a way that the horrific deaths and carnage he dealt with on a regular basis was unable to.

Mundy slid by the trio and followed Ludwig out onto the street finding the man already on the corner of the street with his thumb out. In all honesty, the sight was a bit pathetic. The doctor was easily six feet tall, probably an inch or two taller (but still shorter than Sniper's six foot three inches), dressed pretty well for being one of Mann Co.'s Mercs, soaked in beer and being jeered at by the few passersby who recognized him. People shouting, spitting in his direction, or simply all out ignoring who they assumed was one of those "drunk, belligerent mercs" again.

The Australian didn't know why he felt comfortable enough to do so, but he took the opportunity. "They might be willing to let you hitch if you showed a bit of leg." He joked. Even when Medic shot him a look that shot syringes at him, he chuckled softly and kept his face. _Twenty seconds of courage, right? The bloke could use a friend._ "I wouldn't know what your legs look like, you could 'ave scout in those baggy pants of yours."

The blue eyes that looked like they could probably murder him softened and he dropped his hitchhiking arm as he turned to face him. "I like to zhink my legs are nice…. I played Fußball in University." He narrowed his eyes in the direction of the bar "Real Fußball."

He'd seen the Medic in a good mood, he seemed to crave the same, albeit short, experience again. Watching the doctor talk to him as if he was a human being and not an experiment, grinning and speaking to mice as if they were people, smiling honestly and purely- it was a side of him he'd never seen, and knowing it existed made the man far less frightening. The fact that he'd seen into the man's youth a moment prior made him more human, more tangible than he vengeful god the team had started to see. The man behind the scalpel was curious, but still just a man and for some reason, Levi Mundy was determined to see him.

"Well, I'll give you a ride back to base, no charge." He thumbed behind him at the bar parking lot and turned on his heel to start walking to the camper van parked behind the building.

"Are you sure, you are not going to ask for a quickie as payment?" Levi choked on air and spun back to look at the grinning Doctor "Forgive me, Herr Mundy, I could not resist the joke."

Levi stood still for a moment and stared as if trying to assess the previous statement, then his mind buffered and he barked out a laugh. "Good one, Doc, you had me a bit nervous"

The doctor hummed and took off his tie to wring a bit of beer out of it "Please, after what you saw I believe you may call me Wolfgang." Momentarily his voice lowered, as if he was mumbling to himself. "Zhough, if zhe soldier uses it, he's going to grow feazhers."

Mundy rubbed the back of his neck and led him to the back, climbing into his camper and finding a clean shirt and a pair of sweatpants for the doctor "Well, Wolfgang, call me Levi. Here, ya can't smell like beer all the way to base, the heat'll skunk it while it's on you."

He tossed the clothes at him and climbed out of the camper. Wolfgang chuckled a bit and agreed, climbing in and closing the door, taking about five minutes to change while sniper climbed into the driver's seat. Medic climbed in still buttoning the shirt, which was actually tight on him, but the pants baggy as could be expected. There was a bit of chest hair, but not enough to really call the man hairy, only enough to draw eyes to the spots that were slowly being covered up by lithe hands sealing buttons.

"I didn't think you'd fill out my shirt so well."

"Vell, I tend to layer vhen I dress, but none of zhem are very zhick," The man responded with a bit of a shrug "Zhank you for zhe clothes, I vould not vant to…. How did you put it? Skunk your van?"

"You got it, Do- Wolfgang."

The German chuckled "Doctor is also acceptable, it's probably easier to say for you zhan my given name. Qvite archaic even for a man of my age."

"Honestly I have not heard a more German name than Wolfgang Ludwig."

"Wolfgang Johann Ludwig. My father had a passion for Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven." The Aussie choked, nervous to laugh at the man he'd been conditioned to fear, but the man snorted a bit "It is alright. I quite like it in retrospect, und it it healthy to laugh at oneself once in a vhile."

They both laughed for a bit before it died into silent driving. Sniper spoke after about 5 minutes of what he felt was awkward silence. "Doctor, I probably shouldn't be asking… but you had a past with that woman, didn't you?" He asked if only to confirm his thoughts

Wolfgang sighed and nodded "My ex-vife," He shrugged a bit and rubbed the back of his neck "She is not always zhis vey, she is-... vas a very nice voman."

There was not much to pay attention to when driving through the desert, so Mundy could be more attentive to the conversation than the road. "Wolfgang, the way she reacted to you did not seem nice."

"She has every right to be angry vizh me."

There was a moment of pregnant silence before Levi awkwardly asked "Did you cheat on her? I'm sorry, I'm not usually so nosey, I've just never seen you react that way to… anything."

"And how did I react?" Medic spat a bit, jaw tightening in annoyance to the prying.

He normally would have just dropped it, but he spoke before he could stop himself. "You began like you were panicked, like you felt scared of her. You swallowed it and kept civil, keeping soft as if you refused to lose yourself to any emotion. At first, I thought you were just trying to keep from getting angry, but you were more heartbroken at the sight of seeing her than angry. SHe wanted you angry, which she knew exactly how to get with the jab about your dad." He corrected the van in lane "When she finally got a rise out of you it was like she won, that's why she doused you in the beer. I think she wanted you and Tavish to brawl, broads like that seem to like that."

Doctor Ludwig stared at him with wide blue eyes "Was in himmel-?"

He shrugged "Just because I stay quiet and at a distance doesn't mean I haven't learned to read people. I have to entertain myself in that nest somehow." He did his best to be casual, but it just led to more pregnant silence.

Wolfgang spoke after a long time "Taϋbchen."

"Come again?"

"Er- taϋbchen. It means little dove in my mother tongue. It is what she asked me to call her, but it never felt quite right."

Sniper connected the dots like a child drawing out a constellation. "She wouldn't be connected to the porcelain doves in your office?"

Ludwig chuckled bitterly "Of which I apologize again for my behavior, it was uncalled for. Yes, zhey…. Zhey vere a vedding gift from miene father."

Sniper mumbled "Well, he must have been the life of that party"

Wolfgang let out a short laugh and shook his head "He did not come to the wedding, my mother vas going to be zhere, vhy vould he have vanted to come?" He sighed "I did not vant him to come anyways. He left… but zhat's another story."

"Oim sorry, mate, we honestly don't have t' talk about-"

But the doctor kept going, as if he had a need to talk about it, everyone else was too intimidated to listen. "He had been zhe first person to introduce me to doves... he raised zhem, like his father, and his father before, passed down just like zhe medical profession. And so, I ended up raising zhem too. He sent me zhe two doves as an unspoken prayer zhat Clara und I lasted longer than he and my mother…. mating for life as doves do."

It was a lot of information to take on, but he was curious "What broke you two up?"

"Are you certain I am not speaking to Monsieur Dubois?"

Levi sputtered "THAT BACKSTABBING SPOOK- Okay I am being nosey, I see your point."

The sudden outburst and realization made the German loose it, howling with laughter and actually curling up in a ball in the passenger seat to laugh himself to tears. The high-pitched laughter was contagious and a moment later sniper was pulled over on the side of the road laughing into his steering wheel.

The doctor recovered slowly and brought them back down to Earth, breathing into ground her. "I never truly loved her, but there has always been that… determination to be a better man than my father, which created some sort of affection for her." He took off his glasses to rub his eyes before replacing them. "I treated her well, I provided for her, materialistically and sexually, she didn't seem to mind that I could not do so emotionally. She had been in love with me, bu by the end, I was a… how do you say? Meal ticket?"

Mundy winced "That's rough, mate"

He shrugged, raking a hand through his hair "Marrying her had been a means to an end. The war had ended, it seemed as though the entire world was procreating, and I was tired of being rejected from private practices from having an improper home life. So, I found one of zhe nurses I had developed a…. Relationship vizh? Cultivated it and proposed."

The aussie's hair rose to his brows "Hooly dooly…"

"Now you understand vhat I meant vhen I said she has every right to be angry?"

"Well, mate, a loveless marriage isn't anythin' new, the solution is just to split I guess."

This is where Ludwig chuckled sadly 'I did slowly begin to… feel something for a time, determined to discover a part of myself I never had before." He took his glasses off again, this time cleaning them with the hem of the borrowed shirt. "I began bringing her flowers and chocolates, preparing the dinner vhen ve got home from the hospital. I don't zhink it vas love but… possibly emotional and sexual maturity zhat had led me to zhe desire to… possibly start a family vith her. Heirs vould have been a vay to secure my legacy. "

Sniper had pulled back onto the road and had finished the last leg of the journey, pulling up to the R.E.D. base as the doctor snarled his final words. He realized that the doctor's mood shifted as he spoke, almost as though he didn't know exactly how to relay his feelings, like he didn't know how to express the thoughts going through his head other than relaying the direct facts. "So, do you- er… did you two have a kid?"

They both slid from the car and began to make their way into the base. The laugh that came from the Medic's mouth was almost manic, but it dropped into something horrifyingly evil as they made their way through the base and into the surgical theatre. "The day I vas to ask her if she vould be... villing to provide us vith children vas the day I found her in bed vith that schweinhund." He ducked into his office to change into his own clothes but left the door cracked for conversation.

Levi scrubbed his face with his hand, leaning on the wall. There wasn't much he could say, empathy wasn't his strong suit, but he was honestly trying. "That's rubbish, honestly."

The rustling of clothing began after the squelch of boots being taken off, "He vas tied to zhe posts of my bed and she was... riding him. Wearing his SS officer hat. Nazi pig."

Levi felt his heart stop and jump up into his throat. On one hand one of the questions of the team had been answered, on the other hand, the doctor's voice had broken on the word pig, sounding almost like an angry sob.

"I vanted to barge in, zhreaten him vith a scalpel, try to coax her back to me… but I could not. Instead I valked to my office and knocked the doves off their shelf in anger." The door swung open but the doctor would not face Levi as he pointed to the small statue he'd seen only a few hours before. "Coincidentally zhey split perfectly down the middle. I tried for veeks to piece zhem back together, but she vould stand on her own und he vould fall off… slowly breaking further and further every time I tried to put him back…."

Levi stood just outside the door, not wanting to invade what he felt was the doctor's personal space "Maybe it just wasn't meant to be. She wasn't right-"

Wolfgang glanced over his shoulder at the Australian, raising an oddly sculpted brow in amusement. "Schmalzig."

Levi made a face of indignation. The man was too confusing, nearly broken down to tears one moment and cheeky or laughing the next. Perhaps he used humor as a coping mechanism?

 _Or he's bloody mad…_

He finally found words "Excuse me?"

"Schmalzig. Wie sagst du das auf Englisch…." He turned and Wolfie could see the water on his lashes from behind his glasses. Coping mechanism it was. "Schmaltzy? It sounds so similar in German…"

"Never heard the word, mate."

"Overly sentimental?"

The sniper stared for a moment before breaking into what could be interpreted as both a grimace and a grin "Are you calling me corny?"

"Ja."

They both managed to look at each other until the tension broke and there was a bit of an amicable chuckle. "So, you've been here for three years-"

"Zhe incident vas fifteen years ago. Ve divorced soon after and I lost my medical license getting revenge."

"Fifteen-?! And she's still sour?"

The German shrugged, gesturing to the reading chair for Sniper to sit while he took the office chair "She seems to believe I should have broken vithout her." He barked out a single "Ho! She vas so angry vhen she left, she zhought I vould beg for her to stay, for her to come back, but I served zhe papers. I told her I vas letting her leave. And vhen she did, she lost zhe level of comfort she vhas used to." There was a smug casualness to the way he reflected on the subject.

"Thats some shonkey business there, mate."

"Ja,"

"And she still knows how to push yer buttons."

"Hooh… Ja, but zhen again she knew me at a more… volatile time in life. During and after zhe var vas a... difficult time for me."

Mundy sat forward, putting his elbows on his knees to ask about the one comment that almost made Wolfgang lose control. He'd been given more clues than he technically needed, her comment, his mentioning the man leaving, it was almost obvious. He didn't want to assume, but looking up at the German... it seemed wrong to ask.

The man had taken off his glasses to wipe them on his vest, his shirt tucked into his baggy trousers, a new tie loose around his neck. He hadn't put his boots back on though, and it revealed red crew socks with white plus signs on them. Levi smiled a bit, seeing another sign of the momentary softness he'd seen a few times that day on the man's usually stern person.

Blue eyes glanced up at Mundy, curious as to why the man had his mouth open like he was going to speak but hadn't made another sound.

"Levi? Are you alright?"

He sat back up and closed his mouth, trying to keep himself from blushing. "Ye, I was just thinking- you have anything to drink in here?"

Wolfgang opened his mouth to answer then closed it again and seemed to think "Jaeger, as stereotypical as zhat sounds, but I usually don't touch zhe stuff."

Levi made a face and shook his head "Conversations like this are usually paired better with a pint."

Wolfgang looked at him for a long while before asking quietly "A pint of…?"

He furrowed his brows right back then choked out a laugh "Beer, mate, a pint of beer."

A sharp nod equated to understanding with a bit of a smile. "Ya, though I will admit to needing a subject change."

"No worries, mate. I got some in my camper-?"

Medic grinned, but again it was friendlier than menacing. "If you are offering, zhen I accept. Better to have beer on zhe inside zhen zhe outside, ja?"

Mundy snorted and held the door open for him, feeling more comfortable with the man than he ever thought possible.

German Translation (In no particular order):

Ich schlage vor, du hältst deine Zunge, Frau, du bist auf Geduld angewiesen, die ich nicht mehr habe : I suggest you hold your tongue, woman, you need patience that I no longer have

Wie sagst du das auf Englisch : How do you say in English

Barchen : Little Bear

Was in himmel : What in heaven

Fußball : Football/Soccer


End file.
